quote:

Originally posted by David Adams Of course people out there can mix/master better than I can, but learning how to is part of the allure of producing - at least for me. I want to learn how to do it myself. If I make a decent track, I'm sure a label will have it professionally mastered anyway, right? Knowing at least something about mixing/mastering will not hinder you in any way. If anything, it will make you stronger and more well rounded. I know people that have built their own house all by themselves. It took them years to complete, but what an accomplishment! The same can go for building your own airplane in your garage - what an accomplishment. The ability to mix/master your songs close to professional - what an accomplishment. It's about striving for more and wanting to better yourself - in this case as an overall musician. Just my opinion.

I understand that completely. It is definately important to have some BASIC idea of mastering, but don't even consider trying to master your own stuff. No one does that, no matter how pro they are. If you want to be able to master OTHER peoples songs to a near professional level, be prepared to spend A LOT of money on monitors and acoustics!

That said, mixing is not mastering, they're two different things. Mixing you MUST learn, because you won't really get anywhere without it. Back in the day someone would do a dry recording a rock song and send it off to get it mixed because it was a simple afair. These days, with dance music, mixing techniques + effects etc. are so integral to the sound that you can't just hand them off to someone else.

Echo,
That makes sense.

I guess the point I was simply trying to make is that learning is quintessential to growth as an individual. I'm talking about self-actualization and being all you can be in whatever you do. If you don't strive to reach the top of the mountain, you won't even get to the base of the summit.

I'm probably getting a bit too philosophical, but its just how I approach many things in life personally.

I do this not because I'm hoping to make it big one day. I do this because I love doing it. And, as a direct result of my passion for this, I want to learn everything I can - whether I master it or not is not the point. But, the knowledge will make me better nonetheless.

Again, just my take on it all. There is no doubt other people can master my productions better than myself, but if I am fortunate to ever get signed, as I stated earlier and DigiNut reiterated, the label will have my tracks remastered for the specific media type anyway. As time progresses, I may resort to having a professional do it, but right now, I rather learn what I can about it first.

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http://www.davidadamsmusic.com

one program you guysneed to get for mastering is

har-bar

it isn't a mastering suite but what itdoes , it does it so fucking good. Basically it is a tool to sort of manage the frequency peaks before you send it to a mb compressor . The algorythms are really impressive and it is really exciting technology.